Veteran Indian film executive Tanuj Garg has teamed with photographer, talent agent and producer Atul Kasbekar to launch Ellipsis Entertainment, a production company for Bollywood’s changing times.
They describe the company as a “new-age, high content film company” and have a slate of eight Hindi-language movie projects in different states of readiness. Three are expected to shoot in the next financial year.
Garg previously held executive positions with YTV and Viacom in London and Mumbai. For the following four years he headed Balaji Motion Pictures as its CEO. In his role as talent spotter and manager Kasbekar has been involved in the launches of Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and John Abraham.
The announcement comes at a time when many in the industry are questioning the direction and viability of the Hindi film industry. Disney (previously UTV) recently announced its withdrawal from the sector, while Balaji and Viacom 18 were rumored to be slowing down their activities. “(Our) driving philosophy is a budget-conscious, content-based movie, which (we) believe is the sole determinant of box office success,” the pair said in a statement.
“Ellipsis’ philosophy is to spot, nurture, mentor, and back progressive, engaging, compelling and marketable content. It is an exciting time of content flux in the industry. Marrying a good story with sensible economics in order to yield a strong ROI is the only way forward. Tightened budgets, use of best practices, rebates, brand partnerships and viably structured deals with talent, are some of the mechanisms to rationalize costs and de-risk the business,” said Kasbekar, who earlier this year was one of the producers of hit “Neerja.”
